Control
by Calleo
Summary: Occasionally, it's more entertaining to remind your demons exactly where they stand.


"_Again_?"

The Warlock didn't bother giving his recently re-summoned demon the satisfaction of even a dirty look, and simply turned to leave without a word.

"I have to give you credit, _Master_," the Felguard almost laughed, shouldering his axe and falling into step, "you managed to keep company with only the Imp, from what I hear, for almost two week-"

"Shut it." Calleo cut the demon off with a nearly hissed rebuke, glaring at the dingy stone walkway.

Shaadhun laughed again and shook his head, but fell silent.

Undercity was the perfect place to be irritated and short tempered with everything; the city's ambiance almost begged for that sort of mood, and it was more than apt.  
Fortunately, so was the Warlock's intended destination.

Calleo remained silent until reaching the bat handler at the upper level, at which point he turned sharply to the Felguard, "Stratholme. Meet me at the service entrance."

"...and watch what the hell you're doing!" The Warlock sharply kicked the remains of a ghoul, flipping it over to check and see if he'd missed any valuables or bits of runecloth, "I've no intentions of becoming a midnight snack for the Scourge that have taken up residence here."

Calleo continued lecturing Shaadhun while rifling through the latest batch of freshly dead ghouls and skeletons, "When I direct either you or a spell at a single target, I expect that you'll go after the single target and not decide to make a mad dash through half of what's left of the city! I know you've got ears somewhere on that malformed lump you call your head; if the bucket you perch there is covering them, I'd suggest you find something different to wear."

The demon kicked a half charred corpse out of the way and leaned on his axe, watching the Elf passively, "As though it matters; you're still alive, as unfortunate as that is, as am I. Quit complaining."

Calleo stopped very abruptly, though he did not bother to turn and face his Felguard, "_What did you just say_?"

Shaadhun grinned widely at Calleo's back, re-shouldered the axe and moved to stand next to him; the Elf's half hissed, half spit question told him very clearly that he'd managed to tweak the bothersome little creature.

The demon shrugged, figuring he'd found an easy way of making yet another evening in Stratholme a bit more entertaining.

"I might suggest that you watch your tongue; I'm much more willing to put up with you acting like a petulant little child in a public setting," Calleo, still not bothering to turn and look at Shaadhun, neatly folded a bit of rather dirty runecloth before placing it in one of his bags, "When we're working, however, I'd rather prefer to not have you speaking as though you thought you were my equal."

Moving quickly and relying quite heavily on the element of surprise, Shaadhun swung his axe at Calleo, catching the Elf's neck between the inner curve between the weapon's twin blades; in a continuation of the first movement, the demon pinned the Warlock up against the crumbling stone wall of a nearby building, "Petulant _child_?" The Felguard's grin widened, taking on a slightly unhinged look, "I know your boundaries and limits better than you do, Elf, do not presume to tell me wher-"

The demon's eyes widened, and its expression went blank as Calleo's momentary surprise faded as quickly as it had appeared, and the Warlock chuckled as he watched his Felguard drop its axe and stumble backward. He pushed himself away from the wall, smoothing his robes, and allowed the demon to have its mind back in its own control, but did not allow the creature to raise itself any higher than a kneel.

Shaadhun struggled to move only to find that, unlike what he'd thought were attempts at control in the past, he was quite unable to break away from the control of the Warlock who was now walking slow, predatory circles around him. This? This was likely a very bad sign, and it served to do nothing else but fuel the loathing and contempt that the demon already had for Calleo.

Calleo leaned over Shaadhun's left shoulder and offered the demon a vicious, cutting smile, "In answer to your first question," noting the creature's brief look of shock the smile widened, "-oh, don't act so surprised, it's not as though-" he laughed, straightening and moving to stand in front of his servant, "No, no, never mind, I suppose this really is the first time that I've really had quite enough of letting you behave nearly as you wish."

The Warlock waved a dismissive hand, still smiling and looking bizarrely giddy, "As I was saying, demon, in answer to the first question, I've simply not let go of the metaphorical leash this time. You've always been quite good at avoiding the limits of my temper, and I suppose the 'reward' for that has been that you've simply been allowed to exist as is."

Shaadhun narrowed his eyes, looking, unfortunately, up at Calleo and more shouted than spoke, "Wh-what in the HELL are you talking about? I-I haven't asked you a damned thing, Elf!" Unfortunately for Shaadhun, the answer had been somewhat unnerving, and what should have been an intimidating shout came out a bit more unsettled sounding than intended.

Calleo kept his voice low and quiet, with an undercurrent which the demon could not quite place, "Not aloud, at any rate," he made a small, almost unnoticeable movement that had the result of causing the Felguard to lower its head, and with it, its gaze.

The demon, now almost enraged by this potential, in his mind, turn of events opened its mouth to say something else, only to find that it no longer had the ability to speak.

"Furthermore, you will speak Thalassian tonight; I've no intentions of carrying on a conversation with you in _your_ native tongue. That said, the answer to the second question is simply because I'm quite tired of having to look up to speak to you. You're a good two and a half to three feet taller than I am, after all" knowing that Shaadhun could not respond, Calleo continued, "You're really rather thick headed, you know; even the Imp figured it out after a couple of days."

The Warlock laughed and resumed circling the demon as he spoke, "Even you can't possibly be so oblivious to the stark differences in my own behavior when I'm around other people and when I'm alone save for _you_," he paused now and then to gauge Shaadhun's reaction, allowing the demon just enough physical freedom to raise its head very slightly, so it could watch more than Calleo's feet.

The instant Shaadhun thought he could move, he tried, only to find himself stopped after just barely changing his field of vision; the demon growled something undoubtedly unflattering and certainly directed at Calleo, but the Warlock appeared to ignore it for the time being.

Watching Calleo move, Shaadhun stopped listening to whatever it was that that annoying little Elf was going on about and instead lost himself in thinking about the Warlock's mention of behavioral differences.

At the moment, and really any time the Elf hadn't been around other people, Calleo was rather animated; he moved gracefully and, the demon noted, did not trip over his own feet or his robe hem. Every movement made by the Warlock gave the impression that it was perfectly calculated and precise, not a single gesture or step seemed clumsy or out of place. Calleo was, Shaadhun also noticed, not aimlessly rambling as he spoke; he had no idea what the Warlock was saying as he was too busy trying to work out what in the world that crazy little man had meant by the Imp figuring it out, but whatever it was that was being said, it was just as crisp, calculated and to the point as the Elf's physical movements.

"Oh dear," Calleo once again stopped circling Shaadhun and stood in front of him, looking down with what, on the surface, appeared to be a pitying look; the Felguard might not have ever been the brightest firefly in the marsh, but he wasn't completely dense either. He saw the vicious, mocking gleam in Calleo's eyes, "have I confused you? I probably asked a bit too much, telling you to think on the same level as the Imp; at least that particular member of the Legion is known to possess some sense of intelligence and creative thought, as, well, impish as it may be."

"You really ought to consider yourself lucky," Calleo examined the patterning on one of his gloves, scowling slightly at the fact that whoever had designed the pattern designed them to not have actual full finger cover, "I could be much, much worse than what I am. Really, I'm rather be-"

Shaadhun snarled, interrupting (or, at least, thinking he had interrupted) Calleo, "Don't you dare—don't you _dare_ label yourself as," the demon nearly spat the word, "benevolent. _Nothing_ about you or what you do comes remotely clo-"

Cutting the demon off with an unnecessary, but visually impressive, sharp wave of his hand, Calleo's physical demeanor shifted. Shaadhun watched the Elf carefully, confusion slowly edging loathing for the Warlock to the back of the demon's mind.

"Oh come now, I could be much, much worse," Calleo had relaxed his posture a bit, taking on an amicable stance, and the predatory grin found itself replaced instead with a soft smile; the Warlock tilted his head slightly to one side,"I'm not vicious, I'm not violent, I'm reasonably even tempered and rational, I grant you quite a bit of rather undeserved freedom, I don't keep you as a mind slave," Shaadhun watched with a wary expression as the Warlock continued going through a list of awful things, but what had drawn the demon's attention was not at all related to the speech that he was sure was only for effect.

The Warlock's eyes kept the Felguard's rapt attention; every last detail of how Calleo was currently moving and currently speaking nearly oozed a sickeningly sweet level of kindness, almost to the point of being ridiculous, but the Warlock's eyes gave it all away. He'd allowed the demon the freedom to look directly at him once again and, almost complimenting the ever present, sickly green glow of Fel energy was glittering, brilliantly giddy _malice_.

The Felguard narrowed its own eyes again, beyond angry that that Elf, that _mortal,_ had the audacity to keep the look of someone who had a victim right where they'd intended it to be.

That fact was certainly not lost on Calleo who really could have simply been listing off the daily schedule from the Scarlet Monastery's lower chambers; the Warlock had already managed to drag out a good three fourths of what he wanted from the Felguard. He'd long since caused the demon to be reduced to a mess of seething hatred and anger; the confusion happened to be a nice afterthought, and now? Now the only thing missing was proper fear.

Calleo certainly did not view himself as at all stupid or naïve; he knew quite well that physical pain was little threat to a Felguard. The creatures were quite literally created to be able to cope with that sort of thing, after all. The threat of taking its sentience only worked to a point.

Both of them knew quite clearly that it was an empty threat; Calleo had always been dreadfully unsubtle about the fact that he enjoyed his sentient servants to remain sentient so that they were always keenly aware of their situation as well as making it clear that he found having to control a demon's every move and thought to be an irritation, so that was unlikely as well.

The Warlock lost himself to his own internal planning.

Shaadhun continued to watch Calleo closely, somewhat unnerved by the fact that the Elf had gone silent a good five minutes ago and hadn't really moved or said anything in the time since; the demon made some attempt to shift its weight a bit, finding being stuck kneeling in plate for this amount of time to be slightly uncomfortable.

The sound of plate moving against plate jolted Calleo back into the present and the sickening, ridiculous looking sugary smile twisted into something very unsettling.

"As I'd been saying," Calleo took a step forward, bending down to bring his face level with that of the Felguard, lowering his voice even further, almost taking it to the level of a vicious, biting whisper, "I could be much, much worse."

The demon nearly flinched, just barely catching and stopping itself from doing so as the Warlock continued speaking, "You've seen them, in fact, I know for certain that you've met at least two," when Shaadhun tried to turn in order to avoid having to look directly at Calleo, a feat nearly impossible as that damned Elf couldn't have had his pointy little face more than an inch away from him which was not only ridiculously uncomfortable, but also highly disconcerting considering the Elf's general reaction to anyone stepping within a three foot circle radius.

Any further thought found itself quite rudely interrupted by Calleo, "If I'm at this level, Shaadhun, it's reasonably safe to assume that I mean for you to _look at me_," the Warlock grabbed the Felguard's chin, forcing the creature to look directly at him again; that had been a gamble, actually touching the demon, but it proved to have paid off: A distinct, electric jolt of fear crossed the demon's mind and, very briefly, its expression.

Calleo continued speaking as though he'd not just interrupted himself, "Oh come now, don't be coy, you know the type!" it was all he could do to not degenerate into laughter at this point; for all of the irritations he'd put up with where that Forsaken Warlock had been concerned, the one thing he had figured out, albeit inadvertently, from the half mad rotting man was a very effective way to terrify this particular Felguard.

Calleo's unsettling smile turned into an even more unsettling grin and he moved a bit as though he were telling Shaadhun some dreadfully amusing secret and continued on in an almost flippant tone of voice, "They take the phrase '_fuck the Legion_' a bit more literally than they ought to?"

Through what was likely pure dumb luck, Calleo managed to not laugh at how utterly absurd that sounded and at how, despite that, he likely looked more absurd standing the way that he was standing.

For as entertaining and amusing as the Warlock found the situation, the Felguard found it to be equally as absolutely, positively horrifying. He couldn't move or pull away, as he wasn't being allowed.

Were it possible for a gray skinned demon to have all of the color drain from it, Calleo may have found himself with a white Felguard, at least, temporarily.

Shaadhun froze.

Several things were very, very wrong right now; the Elf was purposely touching him and the situation did not involve a rebuke and a swat upside the head.

The Elf was not only touching him, but also had its pointy little face all but doing so as well.

Furthermore, that damned Elf had used a fairly vulgar, lewd turn of phrase, which was simply just never done.

After a bit, the demon became aware that, at some point, it had stopped actually breathing; the first attempt to take a breath ended up in a bit of a hacking cough instead, followed by an equally awkward attempt at speaking, "Y—you c—coul-you wouldn-you wouldn't-!"

Calleo moved back a bit, removing his hand from holding the Felguard's head in place, tilted his head, and smiled viciously, "Thalassian, or you don't speak at all."

Shaadhun snapped his jaw shut, knowing damn well that Calleo had understood what he'd said; when he made another attempt to speak, this time in Thalassian, the ever present undercurrent of contempt had been entirely replaced by what amounted to little more than frightened begging, "You wouldn't dare, you wouldn't! That disgusting, rotting corpse-you said you wouldn't allow tha-"

"...that sort of thing to go on, _so long as you behaved yourself_," Calleo, being quite fed up with the stammering, finished the demon's thought, putting clear emphasis on the final six words, "And don't beg, it's disgusting."

He now regarded the Felguard with an even, neutral expression, the vicious glint in the Warlock's eye having been tucked nicely away for safe keeping and possible future use, and his tone of voice reverting back to the dry, neutral, calm-to-the-point-of-infuriating near drone with which the demon was more than accustomed, "Your mind, your thoughts, your every action and reaction belong to me. You exist as you are by _my_ will; I shouldn't have to remind you of that, and I trust that we'll _not_ have to have this conversation a second time."

Calleo very lightly laid a hand on either side of the demon's face, preventing the creature from attempting to turn away; a wholly unnecessary gesture as it was in the mental arena that the actual movement was stopped. It was the brief jolt of fear that crossed the creature's mind when the Warlock's hand made contact and the shudder that went right along with it that made it more than worth having to actually touch the wretched thing.

A very brief, very clear flash of malice made one final, overt appearance in the Warlock's voice, "_You are nothing without me_."

Smiling, he shoved the demon away while simultaneously releasing the creature from its inability to move; while a light shove from Calleo would generally not send even an upright book falling over, shock and uneven cobblestone worked to the Warlock's advantage.

He stepped back and then around the Felguard who had, by now, picked up his axe once more and was climbing to its feet and looking at anything but its Master, not giving the demon another word or even an acknowledgment that he was aware that it was still around.


End file.
